Effective Micro Organism - Your non toxic cleaning agent

Silent Spring by Rachael Carson is an eye opener - once you read it, you start examining the source of chemicals in your house. I happened to read this book a few months back - since then I was in search of the magic product that could replace lysol, harpic, room freshner ... and the list is on.. Anyway I stopped buying these products substituted them with bleaching powder and mild detergents. The girl who helps me with the domestic work, was not pleased with the substitutes - she couldn't see the lather that would ensure the 'germs ' are killed..

I happened to meet Mr. Arun Swami at Amritha institute of technology and he gave me Effective Micro Organism . I was exposed to EM technology during my first environmental workshop at Auroville in year 2006 by Dr.R Rajagopalan. Mr. Arun gave me the proportion to make EM2. This was my second experiment after composting.

I made 3 litres of EM2 , 50 Ml EM1, 250 g jaggery and 950ml well water - leave this concoction for 1 week. Ensure that we open the cap of the plastic bottle everyday in order to release the gas formed. The jaggery will provide food for the micro organism to multiply. In one week's time, the sugar is broken down to form EM2.

See the picture for the darker EM1 and lighter EM2. Mr. Arun asked me to feed the liquid to ants to check if the liquid is ready for domestic cleaning purposes.If the ants are attracted towards the liquid, then it is not yet ready . The ants won't feed on the liquid if it is ready. And yes, it worked ! I had made the substitute for all the toxic cleansing agents in the house. When you pour Em2 into the toilet, it removes any bad odour - however, it does not replace it with any strong odour that a lysol or harpic would typically have.

Happy making EM2 at home !

To know more about EM technology, buy a copy of An Earth Saving Revolution II - By Dr. Teruo Higa , English Translation by Anja Kanal (Published by Sunmark Publishing)

The book also provides mechanism to use EM for agriculture , and cleaning of sewage systems... interesting in this age of toxicity..

Vehicle menance at Nagarhole

Mysore Mananthavady road that cuts through two of the forest reserves, Bandipur and Nagarhole has been an arterial road for those who travel between Kerala and Karnataka. When the stretch from Dammankatte to Ubdur was closed for project tiger , there was lot of noise from Kerala business men citing there will be economic loss and impact to transport of essential items - like food to the consumer state of Kerala. . The good news is that recent camera trap images (after stopping vehicle movement in this segment) at Ubdur junction confirmed 4 individual tigers moving in this segment - a sign of higher wildlife activity , after the ban of vehicles..

We went to Ubdur junction at 6PM - this gate is closed between 6PM and 6 AM. We saw the vehicle statistics showed close to 800 vehicles passing through this segment - one vehicle a minute was the average frequency ! One aspect was clear, the number of public transport vehicles like buses were on an average 35 per day whereas the number of cars and jeeps of tourists were as high as 300 per day. Should I now assume these tourist vehicles were transporting essential commodities ? - I agree more trucks ply on the NH212 on the Gundlupet - Muthanga segment which carry the essential commodities to Kerala.

The scene at Ubdur after 6 PM was an eye opener for the two of us from "God's Own Country" - the so called educated society who flaunt their Dubai labour card to cross the rules of the forest department were on the rise after 6PM. There were atleast 5 vehicles who stopped and shouted at the forest guards to open the gate after 6PM. I realised there were many late comers who felt breaking the rules of the forest was an easy affair. I couldn't agree more with Goans - "God's Own Country ; but Devil's own people ! "

I salute the forest guards who protect the food and water security of our nation, their enemies are not terrorists , but the educated tourists whose power to think and abide the law has been buried under the influence of currency they earn.

I couldn't agree more with the words.. "grow local food and ensure one doesn't buy products that has travelled long distances burning fossil fuel to reach your homes" - the impact was not just in burning fossil fuels, but in increasing the demand to open up more and more roads through pristine forests of India !

We thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the forest we saw at the gate. Though we did not spot large mammals, nature trails with Sanctuary team has given me the sensitivity to enjoy and be aware of the small and beautiful !

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/meera.rajesh/SmallAndBeautifulAtNagarhole#

South Asian Rainforests and Indian connection

A CDM consultant working in afforestation projects in South India shared some stories about the deforestation of old growth forests of Malaysia and Indonesia, for timber and palm oil.. The scale was rather shocking..a total forest loss of 1,486,000 ha , around 85% deforestation since 1990 in Malaysia alone !

What is special about Old growth of Malaysia ? : Compared to the rest of the world's rain forests, Malaysia's is a grandmother. During the Ice Ages, much of the Earth was covered by immense glaciers that kept the global climate cool. Consequently, many of the planet's tropical rain forests had to wait until the glaciers receded before they could evolve. Malaysia's forest, however, was blessed with a location far enough away from the ice that it developed 130 million years ago - far earlier than those of Africa and Latin America (Source :Forests of Malaysia)

I turned my attention to some recent projects in India - tried to look up the World Bank website to find out the patterns of Category A projects approved (Category A project is likely to have significant adverse environmental impacts that are sensitive, diverse, or unprecedented. These impacts may affect an area broader than the sites or facilities subject to physical works)

• Lanco Amarkantak Power Private Limited - coal based power plant in Chattisgarh
• Vicat Sagar Cement - a 60 MW captive coal-fired power plant in Chatrassala village, Karnataka
• Tata Ultra Mega (Tata Mundra) - A coal based 4,000MW ultra mega’ imported coal and supercritical technology based power plant at the port city of Mundra in the state of Gujarat - The coal will be sourced from mines of Indonesia and other countries..operated by Adani group

See also protest by local NGOs : http://www.himvani.com/news/2010/02/20/small-hydel-projects-a-big-issue/4083/

Getting our Malaysian/ Indonesian connection ? and the connection between rainforests and electricity we produce in India? It is the coal, timber and palm oil that connects us all ! I realised the cynicism in the consultant's voice towards my activism :-) This activism is once again a droplet.. we need to increase the droplet into oceans of change - compare the hectares of rainforests lost -rainforests are nature's oxygen mask for the entire world !

What did we do?

• Mr.Khan of KK English School made a good start to his vacation by taking 100 school principals on an eco tourism to Madikeri - how about influencing 100 heads who can potentially influence another 1000 * 100 ? !!!
• Mrs Usha Ramaiah, Nirmith S, Samarendra S and Sreenivasa T took 120 (kids and adults) on a Kids for Tigers nature trail to the forest talking about deforestation issues, loss of tiger habitat, climate change and ofcourse inspiring atleast 60 kids to appreciate the sound and signs of the forest http://picasaweb.google.co.in/meera.rajesh/KFTTrailForMindtreeEmployees#

Though a droplet, impacts are obvious around us - we are seeing an ability in people to point out facts..there are positive debates happening and we have come across a few doers too - every individual should wake up from this long slumber and start being participative, leveraging one's core skills to conserve our environment for future generations.

Homo Sapiens have taken centuries to become global and understand globalisation ( slight variations can cause compounded effects in the economics of this world) AND, we still don't realise that forests and other naturals systems have always been globlal !

NH212 - A corridor of accident for wildlife

Couple of times in the past one month we happened to cross Bandipur National Park towards the Kerala border . We had welcomed the ban on vehicular movement in the night - though it means an additional 100 km drive on a rough patch of road - good enough to cause damage on software consultants' spinal chord ! The gyan over the past 2 years has deepened the sense of concern towards other species that share this planet .. and the effect was to welcome this ban wholeheartedly.
We were waiting in front of the Karnataka side of the forest checkpost awaiting the opening of the gate at 6AM - the scene there was rather chaotic - there were close to 30-40 vehicles waiting at the gate - ready to take the first chance to cross (respect the impatience of the drivers who wait overnight to save 100 km ) .
Instead of early morning birds , it was the honking that woke me up ; it was the carbon monoxide and other GHGs that filled the forest air ... Once the chaos was cleared and every vehicle got a chance to move forward into the park, most of the vehicles were moving in high speed unwary of animals crossing - the speed and callousness was enough to knock down even the magnificent elephants on the way !
Many times I have heard people say that the kerala side of the forest is not well maintained - I tend to agree - the roads are better on the Kerala side whereas the forests are not - off late I see lot of houses, huts, business establishments popping on the road side.. There are roadside cafe's which serve tea in plastic cups and you obviously see a mini Bangalore in the making with the cups strewn on the leaf litter.There is an obvious invasion of forest land .... Beyond this there is enough of litter on either side of the road contributed by tourists who want to "enjoy" their weekends from Kerala and Bangalore invading into the privacy of wild animals.
We know wild animals try to poke into the plastic covers which carry salt and food remnants, we also know that these are not welcome material among the leaf litter
I crossed the forest with thoughts lingering in my mind - how do we educate a passing population who cross the forest to enjoy ? how do we educate truck drivers who try to tease wild animals with their heavy vehicles ? Is media the right answer ? With one vehicle crossing every 0.41 minutes can we expect a perfect management from forest department ? Or should we impose a ban on small shops inside the park ?
More info : http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_night-drives-through-bandipur-forest-area-in-karnataka-banned_1357415